Plutarch - Discourse to an Unlearned Prince.pdf - Platonic Philosophy

ill; for the former is the cause of the other; and this is a noble and generous sort of fear, well becoming a
prince, to be solicitous lest any harm should befall his subjects unawares:
As faithful dogs, surprised with sudden fear,
When once they see the savage beasts appear,
Not of themselves, but of their flocks take care.
Epaminondas, when on a certain festival day the Thebans gave themselves up wholly to drinking and
carousing, went about alone and viewed the arsenal and the walls of the city, saying, that he was sober
and vigilant that others might have liberty to be drunk and to sleep. And Cato at Utica, when he had
called together by proclamation all his soldiers that had escaped the slaughter to the seaside, caused them
to embark in ships; and having prayed for their prosperous voyage, returned home and killed himself,
leaving an example to princes, whom they ought to fear and what they ought to contemn. On the other
hand, Clearchus, king of Pontus, creeping into a chest, slept therein like a snake. And Aristodemus lay
with his concubine in a bed placed in an upper room over a trap-door, her mother removing the ladder
as soon as they were got up, and bringing it again in the morning. How then, think you, did he fear to be
seen in the theatre, in the judgment-hall, in the court, or at a feast, who had turned his bed-chamber into
a prison? For indeed good princes are possessed with fear for their subjects, but tyrants with fear of them;
insomuch that their timorousness increaseth with their power, since the more people they have under
their dominion, so much the more objects they see of dread and terror.
5. Neither is it probable or convenient (as some philosophers affirm) that God should be mingled
together with matter that is altogether passive, and with things obnoxious to innumerable necessities,
chances, and mutations; but to us he seems to be placed somewhere above with the eternal nature that
always operates after the same manner; and proceeding (as Plato saith) on sacred foundations, according
to nature, he brings his works to perfection. And as he hath placed the sun in the firmament, as a clear
image of his most sacred and glorious essence, in which, as in a mirror, he exhibits himself to the
contemplation of, wise men; so in like manner, the splendor of justice that appears in some cities is a
kind of representation of the divine wisdom, which happy and prudent persons describe by the help of
philosophy, conforming themselves to those things which are of a most sublime and excellent nature. It
is certain that this disposition of mind cannot be attained but by the doctrine of philosophy; otherwise
we shall lie under the same circumstances as Alexander, who seeing Diogenes at Corinth, and being
astonished at his ingenuity and majestic gravity, let fall this expression: If I were not Alexander, I would
choose to be Diogenes. For being almost oppressed with the weight of his own grandeur and power,
which are the impediments of virtue and ease, he seemed to envy the happiness of a threadbare cloak and
pouch, with which the Cynic rendered himself as invincible as he could be with all his armor, horses, and
pikes. However, he had an opportunity to philosophize and to become Diogenes in his mind, though he
remained Alexander in his outward state and condition, and he might more easily be Diogenes, because
he was Alexander; forasmuch as to keep the vessel of his prosperous fortune steady, which was tossed
with the winds and waves, he stood in need of a good quantity of ballast and of a skilful pilot.
6. Amongst the mean and inferior sort of people, folly mingled with weakness is destitute of an ability
to do mischief; and the mind is vexed and distracted by it, as a distempered brain is with troublesome
dreams, insomuch that it hath not strength enough to execute what it desires. But power joined with a
corrupt and depraved inclination adds the fuel of madness to the fire of the passions. So true is that
saying of Dionysius, who declared, that he then chiefly enjoyed his authority, when he speedily
performed what he designed. But herein lies the greatest danger, lest he that is able to do all things that
he desires should desire those things that he ought not:
The word’s no sooner said, but th’ act is done.